Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-02-05
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OF them express desire to reform. ana TO
expiate their ufisdeeds by bringing other
criminals 10 Justice. " is needless TO say
that gSea of them are ever listened TO. 1t
may be good plan to SCI a thief to eaten
a tbsef, bur that principle won't work in
the hetectlYe business" e.
Are there many applications from
women"
ANY number OF them--nearly as many
as from men. 1t is strange that woman
should ever think of doing the HARD and
dlsagreeable labor that detective Goes,
isn't itf Buta great many OF them think
that women are particularly well fitted to
be detectives. They are the hardest APP
plicants to discourage. too. They tell or
the remarkable feats they have per-
formed in terreting out the petty theits
OF hired girls or shop boys, and they
think they are able to run down the most
adroit criminal. OF course women have
sometimes made good detectives, but
there isn't one woman in a million who
is fit for the work, and certainly there is
very little detective work that any right
minded woman would care to do. When
the kind OF places detectives have to
visit, the hours they have to keep, and
the hardships they have to endure are
pointed out, many women applicants have
sense enough to withdraw at once, though
others may hang on until they are almost
driven away.
PEOPLE WITH CLEw-
professionally we hear from the clair
voyants or f0rtune-teler who have re-
ceived information from the spirits or
the stars about certain mysteries, which
they will reveal for a con sideration.
During the excitement following the
Grant & Ward failure a so-called as
trologer on Blocker street called on me
repeatedly and told me she could dis
cover where Ferdinand Ward had hidden
100000 ne had obtained from ais contid-
ing creditors. She wanted $1,000 to go
through the necessary incantatiOns to
locate the exact spot. | took no stock in
her astrOlogy, of c0use, but TO get rid OF
her finally promised to give her 500 II
her pretended revelations were substan-
tiated. She went into a trance on the
spot and declared That Ward had locked
up the amount In the vaults OF a Broad
way safe deposit company which she
could not name. She offered, however, to
to go into another trance and lead me to
the spot tor $40 cash In hand, but was
somewhat too old bird to pe caught
with that Kind OF chat. She under
took to do the trance act on her own
account then, but l guess it didn't
work, for | never heard of her again.
every time crime occurs which at
tracts a great deal of attention, we get
full crop OF these amateur unravelers of
mysteries. Sometimes they write offer
ing TO give clews by which the criminals
can be discovered if they are paid for it.
More often they call in person, and pro-
pose to undertake The entire work them
selves, and TO claim no reward unless they
are successful. You might think that
under such conditions it would be well
enough to give them chance; they
couldn't possibly do mucl harm if they
did no good; but there is nothing in any of
them, and the time spent on them would
be wasted.
II remember one of these fellows who
came here just after a man had been
mysterlouslV murdered in Rivington
street. He said that he had studied de-
tecuve work very carefully, and he was
perfectly sure he could run down the
murderer in tWenty-tour hours if we would
only give him chance. He was one of
those men who had an iIOn-clad assur-
ance that no rebuffs can affect, and, in
order to get rid of him. he was given a
chance to GO cut and find the murderer.
l was sent out after him to see what he
would do. He noeed around tue scene of
the murder for awhile starCllng every
body by his loud aud Officious manner OF
asking questions. Finally, he took a
position on the other side of the street
and watched.
the first visitor to the scene of the
crime he eyed with great suspicion, and,
when he went away, he shade we'd him IN
sucn a clumsy way that everybody in the
street turned around to look at him. The
people had good reason TO stare, too, for
the man he was following so energeticaly
vas In 3pector ByrDes himself. Of course
this man was only another crank.
THE boys of the last generation," con-
cluded the detective. FUSED 10 read stories
Of killing Indians ard shooting buffaloes
and running away from home. That was
bad enough, but the modern detective
stories are great deal worse. | have a
boy 10 years old, and l would about as
soon see MIN playing with dynamite
bomb as to see him get passion tor de-
tectiye stories, and 1 would good deal
rather see him an honest digger in the
aqueduct than a detective"